I’ve had three mentors in my life. I didn’t answer an ad—didn’t look at Craig’s List or Match.com. They just sort of adopted me.

The first was my employer at the Valley of the Sun Electric League. His name was Dick Reucker and he was an amazing, talented management executive. He was in the first group of certified associations executives recognized by ASAE.

Dick had one failing and I was the beneficiary of that flaw. He dislikes the hiring process and never took the time to interview candidates thoroughly for his assistant. I was his first and I guess that convinced him he didn’t need to change his approach. His overall record was pretty good. A little more than half his hires were successful.

He gave me responsibility,he gave me freedom and he gave me a voice in almost all the decision-making. He made the job interesting and exciting. I thought it was the best job I ever had or would ever have.

At some point, he told me that I was pretty good but there was more I could learn. He said you stay, I’ll work your tail off and then I’ll help you get a better job. Down the road he recommended me for my next job at KTAR-TV and the one after that as executive vice-president of the Electric League of Southern California.

My second mentor was Ed Myers, vice-president of marketing for Southern California Edison. He was instrumental in a number of subtle, but effective ways to me being hired to take over the Los Angeles–based electric industry association. He was the principal financial backer of the organization, but rarely exercised his power.

At one point, he vigorously opposed my move to change a minor organization program. Later on in private, I asked him why? He said “Don’t’ ever give me any surprises”, I learned, I never did.

During the first few years of my tenure, Ed would see me any time of the day or evening, but would never have a meal with me. At one point when I suggested lunch, he explained he didn’t want his name or mine on an expense account because he didn’t want anyone to think our professional relationship would be personally influenced.

When I suggested we create a long range plan with a committee he would chair, he said, “No. You draft a plan and I’ll chair a committee to discuss and fine tune it. That way,” he said, “we’ll have a concrete proposal, well thought out, that will save us two years time”.

I went to visit him once when he was recovering from pneumonia. His staff was falling apart because they were rattled by him. They were unsure what he wanted them to do. I suggested he hire me as his de facto Chief of Staff. He explained why that would be a big help to him but the corporate culture would kill me. He was right and probably the best advice he gave me. Truth be told, the corporation would probably never have agreed to hire me.

My third mentor was my brother-in-law Al, a professor of social work at Columbia University. He rarely gave direct advice. He would get me to verbalize the problem and rather than give me his opinion, he would outline some possible options and the consequences of each. It was very effective. On a couple of occasions, his direction led to a decision which made important changes in my life in a very comfortable way.

The only direct recommendations he made on a few occasions when I had some personal issues to resolve was to go talk to a professional. That was fine, but in each case except one, I thought they were more conflicted than I was.

Mentors have been very important in my life. They can be very important in yours.

What do you think?

With 2010 about to come to a close and all eyes turned to 2011, association executives and their boards have a right to be a bit weary. However, there is reason for optimism about the year ahead. As the grimaces on your members’ faces start to relax, perhaps they will take a step back and see how much help their associations have given them over the last couple of years.

You read the same economic predictions I do: Yes, there is a recovery occurring; it’s just not going to be as fast as any of us want it to be. Most associations are wrapping up at least their second full year in which they have had to deal with scant resources, while their members have needed their help more than ever. Still, there are at least two very good reasons for association executives to feel positive as one year ends and another begins.

The first bit of good news: As the economy picks up—albeit slowly—members will feel better about their businesses and professions. Also, from all indications, meetings and tradeshows will begin to pick up a bit more steam in the first half of 2011. Attendance at tradeshows and conventions in the second half of this year has increased over the previous year, even if association executives have found their sponsors and tradeshow exhibitors still somewhat reluctant to make commitments. There is a silver lining here: Attendance is always the last metric to decline when the economy falters (think back to the fourth quarter of 2008) and the first to increase when the economy recovers (think forward to the first half of 2011).

The second piece of good news is that, while many associations have had to make serious adjustments to their operations, they are for the most part still here. When it comes to events and meetings, associations may have cut back on certain elements deemed less central to their core missions but the components that are most important to their members are still alive and well. What’s more, these events are still being held every year—and the associations still own them.

This is in contrast to some of their for-profit sector competitors, who consider your members their customers. Over the past few years, as B-to-B marketers have worked to develop shows, publications and online products to compete with associations, they often have been forced to leverage themselves—sometimes to extremes that would shock the average association executive.

Consequently, many for-profits have suffered through reorganizations that have turned their sizable debt loads into equity positions now held by reluctant creditors. Some have had to shut down their shows or sell them at steep discounts to please investors. As the economic recovery gets underway, imagine what will happen to the “communities” these for-profits have tried to develop alongside the natural communities that associations have always served—regardless of where they are in the economic cycle.

Associations can look toward 2011 and beyond as leaner, smarter and more flexible institutions. They also can be proud that they have served their constituencies well during a rough patch, fostered plenty of good will in the process and are now ready to move forward with their members into a positive future.

Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company

The modern history of attempts to start a third political party in the U.S. has not been successful. They usually just help the major party candidate whose views were farthest from their own: Ross Perot—John Anderson—Ralph Nadar.

The basic flaw in past efforts to create a third party has been the focus on a presidential candidate, not building a party.

To be effective, a new third party needs to start from the bottom up—not from the top down. That means finding congressional candidates who can embrace the basic principles of a platform which is fiscally conservative, as well socially and culturally centrist.

When a sufficient number of congressional candidates are elected over six to eight years, only then can a presidential campaign be launched.

Electing a third-party candidate as president will accomplish nothing if he or she has no congressional support.

An essential ingredient in forming a third political party would be to have recognizable popular name(s) to head up the effort, none of whom have presidential aspirations, i.e., Colin Powell, Michael Bloomberg, Michael Jordan, Jack Welch, Warren Buffet, etc.

A sample platform:

1. A woman’s right to choose.
2. A minimally graduated flat tax based on each year’s balanced budget.
3. Authorization for a line item veto and limitations and transparency of ear marks.
4. An immigration policy which encompasses secure borders, annual quotas of guest workers, a path for citizenship, no citizenship for children of illegals, no benefits for illegals.
5. Reform of the Obama Care Health Insurance plan to include tort reform, allow insurance companies to cross state lines, increase deductibles (including Medicare) to control costs and increase reimbursements for doctors and hospitals.
6. Means testing for Social Security.

A new third political party can be an energetic and effective force to break the current dysfunction and polarization of our two current political parties. It must be created with the best chance of success and allowed to grow.

What do you think?

Having had the opportunity to serve on the boards of several associations and nonprofit organizations over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate the need for regular board training sessions, particularly for new board members. I remember one instance several years ago that vividly illustrates that need. An acquaintance of mine was appointed to serve in the newly created position of allied representative on a trade association’s board. However, the association had not bothered to create position descriptions for its board members and it wasn’t exactly clear what her responsibilities and duties were, or even if she was allowed to vote on issues before the board.

In the end, the board decided to allow the allied representative to vote and eventually got around to amending the association’s bylaws. But had this board member not pressed the subject, she could have spent her entire term on the board, reluctant to speak up, believing her role was that of a spectator with no authority to vote on the important issues facing the organization.

Many associations are now including “The Legal Guide for Association Board Members” by James G. Seely as a part of the basic training package they provide their board members. “The Legal Guide” answers all the most common questions board members raise. In the section titled “Legal Concerns for a New Era,” for example, Seely details the issues surrounding the use of the Internet for board communications and tackles the legality of conducting meetings by e-mail. For more information on “The Legal Guide for Association Board Members,” please visit SchneiderGuides.com.

Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company

Some time ago, a young employee came to tell me how disturbed and overworked she felt. We discussed the situation and a few days later, I wrote her the following:

Dear Employee:
In reflecting further on our discussion of last week, I would like to pass on the following thoughts:

1. To be a manager (of yourself or other people), you have to keep things in perspective. You have to learn first how to manage yourself. Part of any job is realistically recognizing what you can do, as well as what you cannot do.
2. You are here at work 7 ½ hours each day. How much paid overtime have you put in? How much extra time on your own have you invested? Do you honestly feel you give 100 percent of your time? How much time is spent in personal calls, general B.S.? How overworked can you be? Stressed, yes, but, generally speaking, stress is what you create, not the job.
3. The appropriate steps to take when you feel you are, in fact, substantially “behind”:
A. Try to establish priorities.
B. Discuss the priorities with your supervisor.
C. Decide if extra help is needed, or whether some of the deadlines can be skipped.
4. You need to work at controlling the tendency to internalize, emotionalize and feel sorry for yourself. These reactions drain your energy and cut your effectiveness by 10 to 40 percent.
5. A standout baseball player of yesteryear who became a great salesman once asked, “How hard are you willing to work … and what price are you willing to pay in order to achieve success?” It applies to any job — any career — in any industry.
6. If you want a job, you can work 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and hope to get somewhere. If you’re lucky, you might. If you want a career, you had better be prepared to make some investment of your time and energy. In a career, you may gain a lot more control over your advancement and your destiny.

You have a lot of potential. Keep your eye on the doughnut, not on the hole.

When we originally published “The Legal Guide for Association Board Members” by James G. Seely in 1995, it was the first time someone had produced a legal handbook written expressly for board members of trade associations and professional societies. The book grew out of workshops that Seely—the senior attorney at Association Legal Services and a regular columnist on legal issues for Association News—had been giving over the years for his clients to help them better understand the basics of the legal structure of nonprofit corporations.

We are happy to announce the publication of the second edition of “The Legal Guide for Association Board Members.” This new edition comes complete with updated information on some of the current issues facing associations, such as the increasingly complex provisions of hotel and convention center contracts and the impact of new laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley. Perhaps most importantly, the new edition of the book also examines some of the many issues that have been spawned by the Internet, from the association’s website to meetings by e-mail to social networking.

To review the table of contents and read a sample chapter or to order the new edition of “The Legal Guide for Association Board Members,” please visit SchneiderGuides.com.

Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company

As I sail into the sunset of my association and trade show-related career, here are a few thoughts and observations I would like to share with you. (The term associations is used here to denote all organized groups; trade, professional, charitable, scientific, health, etc.)

• There are entirely too many associations. More consolidation would benefit all concerned.

• Tax exempt status should change. Either UBIT (unrelated business income tax) should be expanded or more auditing and stricter enforcement of 501(c) requirements should be instituted.

• ASAE has been a very effective educational organization.

• ASAE has not been a very effective industry representative on issues like music licensing or the hotel brouhaha over third-party disclosures.

• None of the other counterpart groups—MP1, PCMA, IAEE, etc.—have even tried.

• The CAE designation is a very worthwhile educational goal, however it could be strengthened by some verbal interchange with a review board and/or some written testing, and more reliance on practical experience and less on ASAE participation.

• IAEE or CEIR, or both, should focus a major effort on creating an understanding of trade shows and the role of industry associations as part of the marketing curriculum in every college.

• Technology can enhance, but will never replace, the most important benefit of associations, which, in my opinion, is the fostering of personal relationships.

• Hotels need to pay as much attention to marketing management and relationship marketing as they do to their romance with “yield management.”

• In order to keep their IRS exemption, associations should be required to undergo a “certified program audit” every few years by an outside consultant in addition to financial reviews.

• ASAE should produce a guide book for associations on how to conduct an audit without having to hire a CPA firm and another one on how to prevent embezzlement.

What do you think?

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Where do forest rangers go to get away from it all?

If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

I went to a book store and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

How is it possible to have a civil war?

If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

Is there another word for synonym?

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

In the first half of 2010, several destinations have been faced with challenges, underscoring the influence that the travel industry has on communities both large and small. However, destinations have also found ways to deal with those challenges. In our annual supplement produced in conjunction with Destination Marketing Association International titled, “Why Travel Matters,” several DMO executives cite examples of challenges they have encountered, and provide insights other DMO executives may find helpful.

Keep It Real—The April 20 explosion of the BP oil rig and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf proved to be a challenge for DMOs in the region. “Our biggest problem from Day One was separating the perception from reality as it related to Florida,” said Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Visit Florida. To solve that problem, Visit Florida focused its advertising on providing up-to-date information about the situation, as opposed to its regular image branding.

Key takeaway: When disaster strikes, temporarily abandon your regular image branding and provide credible, up-to-date information on the situation.

Explain the Value—Following the Arizona State Legislature’s adoption of a controversial law aimed at sparking immigration reform in late April, politicians, citizens and organizations around the country began calling for a boycott of travel to the state. Steve Moore, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the convention bureau has used the situation to communicate the overall importance of the travel industry in terms of jobs and the local economy. “It’s an ongoing dialogue the bureau intends to have with future visitors and business groups,” Moore said.

Key takeaway: When politics interfere with destination marketing, remind constituents of the importance of the travel industry to the local economy.

Ask for Help—This spring, extensive flooding in Nashville, Tennessee, shut down the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center for six months. City officials huddled with hotel managers in the greater Nashville area to relocate nearly 200,000 room nights that had been booked. Although some groups have opted to look elsewhere while the city recovers, Nashville has managed to find other locations in the city for several big conventions that had been planned at the Gaylord Opryland.

Key takeaway:When a natural disaster shuts down facilities, rally the community to help you find alternatives that will keep groups from canceling events.

Spread the Word—In 2008, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, suffered a devastating flood that submerged more than 10 square miles of the city, affecting nearly every downtown business and most public buildings. To help get the message out about the needs of Cedar Rapids—and its recovery— the city’s leading civic organizations joined forces to launch a website, cedarrapidsfloodstory.com, to spread the message. The city also took advantage of its gradual progress, making big community-wide events out of attractions that reopen.

Key takeaway: When rebuilding after a natural disaster, get the word out every time a venue, hotel or public facility reopens for business.

Keep Them Happy—When an Icelandic volcano unexpectedly erupted in April, it wreaked havoc on international air carriers and had a profound negative impact on New York City’s airports. With flights to and from much of Western Europe initially grounded, NYC & Company officials convinced 40 area hotels and transportation providers to offer discounts to stranded travelers and nearly 20 museums and cultural institutions agreed to offer free admission for stranded travelers as well.

Key takeaway: If travelers find themselves stranded in your destination by no choice of their own, find ways to turn them into happy tourists.

Change the Rules—At Chicago’s McCormick Place, the rising costs for groups to do business caused several organizations to cancel their dates—with the chance that many more would soon follow. As a result, convention bureau and convention center officials turned to the state legislature for help to change labor rules at the facility. State lawmakers passed legislation that made sweeping changes to the way the center does business, thus lowering potential costs to groups and tradeshow attendees.

Key takeaway: If circumstances beyond your control threaten your business, ask local and state political leaders for help.

Take the Lead—With more unforeseen challenges no doubt looming for destinations, the importance of spreading the word about travel’s impact on communities cannot be emphasized enough. When challenges for the travel industry arise, savvy DMOs should be prepared to step forward as part of their community’s leadership to convert those difficulties into opportunities.

For a complimentary copy of “Why Travel Matters,” produced in conjunction with Destination Marketing Association International—e-mail me at tim.schneider@schneiderpublishing.com. Or, view “Why Travel Matters” as a digital edition.

Tim Schneider
Schneider Publishing Company

About age 5 I fell and broke my collar bone. That’s how they discovered I had very poor eyesight.

Remember, this was a time when babies and toddlers did not have every inch of their bodies examined and evaluated by parents or the family doctor. Today they would have discovered my poor vision much sooner.

At any rate, I was fitted with geeky glasses and soldiered on. Of course, I proceeded to break at least one pair per year, to the escalating frustration of my parents.

Growing up in that era in one of the five boroughs of New York, about 30 minutes by subway from Manhattan, there weren’t any after-school community programs to organize and schedule activities for kids. There was no Little League or Pop Warner, no Boys & Girls Clubs or YMCAs. We, the kids, had to organize whatever sports or activities we wanted to do.

So, somewhere around age 12, my group—we weren’t a gang!—decided we wanted to play organized baseball. We tired of the hastily arranged pick-up games that always seem to be a few players short. Because my eyesight meant I could hardly see the baseball, I became the “manager”. We recruited enough for a team and then cleaned a vacant weed- and rock-strewn lot, ran raffles to buy equipment and uniforms. We were the Spades. Couldn’t we have been the Kings or the Chiefs? Anything a little more macho than the Spades?

We won some, lost some and had a great time all spring and early summer for a few years. With this success fresh on our resume, we decided to expand and start a football program.

There was a group of older guys who had carved out another better vacant lot and even had some makeshift bleachers for spectators. Since they were the Dukes, with their blessing we became the Junior Dukes.

We rented a garage across the street to use as a locker room and between some hand-me-down equipment from the Dukes and raising some money of our own we got ourselve jerseys, and were ready to roll.

As with the Spades, I was the manager, and in charge of all the non-playing activities. On a few occasions when too few players showed up for a game I was recruited. I played on the line as a guard. On offense I just had to block the guy in front of me. That was okay without my glasses, but on defense it was hard for me to discern who had the ball and who to try and tackle.

I’ll never forget on one series of plays they told me to play in the backfield. Okay, I thought, I’ll just try to block anyone coming into the backfield.

Then the quarterback called a pass play and told me I was to be the receiver. I said: “What, are you crazy? I can’t see a thing!”

He was insistent, and there wasn’t time to argue. The play went off and I was saved from embarrassment when the defensive back batted the ball down before it got to me. I was glad he could see it. At that point, I was delighted to go back to being the manager.

Looking back, I can see this was the beginning of learning and developing organizational skills. If it hadn’t been for my poor eyesight I would have been at best a mediocre player. It was never my dream or plan to get into association and event management but, looking back, I can see those early boyhood experiences helped pave the way.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In my case, adversity was as well.

How did you get your start?